


Promise

by orphan_account



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Bottom Dean, Bottom Sam, Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Freeform, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Top Dean, Top John
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-18
Updated: 2017-01-18
Packaged: 2018-09-18 09:06:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9377870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: If there's one thing that can be said about the Winchester men, it's that they always keep their promises.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for SPN Polyship Bingo 2017  
> Square filled: Dean/John/Sam  
> Based on: Promise - Tori Amos

_“I promise.”_

 

The first time those words were uttered in Sam’s ear that he could remember it was Dean that had said them. His brave big brother. He was ten and scared to death of going to this new school. His first day had been the day before and a larger kid decided to bully him. Dean swore he’d never let anyone touch Sam. He promised.

 

And he came through on that promise – Sam never knew what his fourteen year old brother did, but that kid never touched him again. That was the point that Sam fell in love with Dean, though he didn’t have a word for it.

 

_“I promise.”_

 

The first time Dean heard those words that he could remember it was from his father. His hero and idol. Dean was fourteen and had come home crying one morning after his first girlfriend broke his heart. John had warned him not to get involved with her – she was trouble and was using him for one thing. Dean had fallen onto that crappy motel room bed and pleaded with John not to say he told him so. He promised.

 

And he didn’t utter those words. Instead, he went out and spent money he probably shouldn’t have. He brought back an apple pie and two Cokes. They sat in the bed together and ate until Dean’s stomach hurt. His father didn’t judge him, didn’t yell at him. That was the point that Dean fell in love with John – but he assumed it was just hero infatuation.

 

 _“I promise_.”

 

The first time Sam heard his father say that to him he was shaking and bloody. He was sixteen and had gotten into a fistfight at school. He didn’t mean to hurt the bully, but he’d seen the guy shoving a girl around and couldn’t let that stand. He pleaded with John to take his side, to not be angry. And John promised.

 

He did take Sam’s side. He argued with the principal of the school for nearly three hours on Sam’s behalf, finally coming to an agreement. It didn’t really matter, considering the Winchester’s up and moved three days later, but Sam never forgot that. That was the moment he fell in love with John, and it terrified him.

 

_“I promise.”_

 

His boys were his whole world. They were his light. Sam and Dean. Dean and Sam. His little soldiers, his little hunters, his perfect sons. John noticed it with Dean first. The lingering looks, the touches.

 

By seventeen, Dean didn’t bother trying to hide it anymore. He was in love with his eldest son and it should have made him sick. He should have dropped the boys off at Bobby’s and turned tail. Run far and fast and never looked back. But he couldn’t and it didn’t.

 

He’d made a promise to that boy – no – Dean was a man now. His lanky body had filled in and he’d grown as tall as John now. He still had those bright green eyes, those long lashes and full lips – Dean could charm the pants off of anyone he wanted to, but he seemed to only have eyes for those he shouldn’t.

 

John had promised Dean to always be there for him. No matter what. And he was _not_ going to break that promise.

 

 _“I promise_.”

 

Dean won him over Christmas Eve of his seventeenth year. A few drinks and a lot of touching – Sam was at a sleepover with one of his classmates – Dean lost _that_ part of his virginity on a creaky motel bed with an orange and pink blanket. He screamed ‘Dad’ as he came, short bitten nails scratching rivets into John’s back he’d feel weeks later.

 

They slept for hours, naked limbs tangled under the covers, the evidence of their activities clear. John woke to Dean crying. He tried to hide it, but a father knew his son. Dean confessed he felt terrible – ashamed – he was scared John would hate him for seducing him. John had never laughed so hard in his life.

 

He kissed away the tears as quickly as they came, their lips meeting to share the salty taste. John promised that Dean had nothing to regret. He’d always be there for his sons, no matter what, and he wanted this. He meant that promise.

 

 _“I promise_.”

 

Dean hadn’t meant to involve Sam. He wanted his brother in the most carnal of ways, but he resisted. He’d given in to his father and that was okay – they both understood and needed each other that way. But Sam was better than that. At least, Dean thought he was.

 

But Sam was sixteen and beautiful. Long hair and big eyes that even Dean couldn’t name the color of. All legs and hips and smart ass smiles – Dean wanted to bend the kid over his knee – spank him raw – and then kiss him stupid.

 

Valentine’s Day – of all the cliché days to confess his love to Dean – he wanted to slap Sam upside the head. But it wasn’t a time for jokes. Sam was sobbing his eyes out and scared to death their Dad would come home and yell for him being a baby. It was Valentine’s Day, Sam was sixteen, and he’d never had a real girlfriend. He felt unwanted and unloved.

 

Dean tried to make it better – tried to tell Sam he didn’t need one, but Sam wasn’t having it. He slapped Dean, told him he had no right to talk, he had Dad. The confession floored them both. Sam hadn’t meant to let it slip he knew, and Dean had thought they were being so careful.

 

With shame on his face, Sam admitted he was jealous. He didn’t want a girlfriend or a boyfriend – he wanted to be loved by Dean and by their father, but they didn’t want him like that. They were happy together and he was stuck on the outside of everything.

 

Sam lost his virginity on a creaky motel bed with pea green blankets. He’d screamed ‘ _Brother’_ as he came and Dean saw white.

 

They laid on top of the blankets, tangled limbs so reminiscent of Dean’s special night – but Sam had the giggles. He couldn’t believe it had happened, it _really_ happened. He was nervous – what would Dad say – but Dean kissed him stupid and made a promise not that it would all be okay. He wouldn’t break that promise, no matter what.

 

 _“I promise_.”

 

John came back early from a hunt on Sam’s seventeenth birthday and found his sons in bed together. He was surprised – to say the least – but he knew he shouldn’t have been. Sam was scared – he’d be furious, but John only smiled.

 

He promised never to judge his boys on who they chose to love. And he wouldn’t break that promise.

 

With shaking arms and jelly legs, Sam and Dean pulled their Dad onto that creaky motel bed with dirty brown blankets. John experienced the beauty of their love, the pleasure on Sam’s face as came, calling out for Dean, for his Dad.

 

Maybe it was wrong, but John couldn’t find himself caring. As he watched his boys sleep, one on each side of him, so innocent and so downright beautiful, he knew this was the happiest he could ever hope to be.

 

 _“I promise._ ”

 

Dean and Sam are all grown up now, and John isn’t around. As beautiful at twenty-seven as he was at seventeen, Dean’s brave. And still keeping his promises to Sammy.

 

As stubborn and proud at twenty-three as he was at sixteen, Sam’s still in love with his brother, and still keeping his own promises.

 

They’re standing tall together, lovers and brothers and so much more, but there’s a piece missing. John could feel it as soon as the gates opened, and he had a promise to keep. No matter what it took, no matter how long he’d been gone.

 

 _“I promise. I will rescue you_.”

 

His final promise kept, and a reward. Seeing his beautiful sons and his beautiful lovers, hand in hand as he was finally able to move on.

 

_“I promise, you are not alone.”_

 

And they knew they weren’t. As they slept together on a creaky motel bed with red and white blankets, they were missing their other third, but he was still there, watching over them. He lived in their hearts. He’d made that promise. And their dad always kept his promises.


End file.
